Incentive and Discipline Programme

In the Middle School, our incentive and discipline programmes are closely linked. We believe that relationship is at the heart of everything we do and we therefore have a Restorative Practice discipline system. The desired goal of discipline is for students to take responsibility for their own behaviour. Students are encouraged to develop their own internal restraints on behaviour, i.e. self-discipline. Being well behaved is not merely a matter of obeying a set of rules but derives from a personal discernment of what is appropriate - Christ-like behaviour.

KingsWay School provides an environment conducive to the spiritual growth and development of young people. A standard of conduct based on Biblical imperatives and principles is necessary to provide such an environment. A sense of the need for spiritual growth in the light of these principles has led KingsWay School to adopt the following standards which we believe are conducive to the environment that will best promote the spiritual welfare of the student. The school, therefore, requests that each student:

1. Treats staff and students and school property with respect at all times.

Students are expected to abide by these standards throughout their time at KingsWay school.

Gotcha Credits

The Gotcha system is used to reward students for appropriate behaviour and good work. A maximum of 3 Gotchas will be given for an outstanding effort, 2 for a very good effort and 1 for a good effort.

Other Incentives

These incentives will be awarded at weekly assemblies:A Student of the Week Certificate (for every class) for the student who through their attitude best displays Christian character / servant hood or generally, adds to the positive atmosphere of the class.A Student of the Week Morning Tea for the recipients of the weekly certificates.An achievement badge for the top three Gotcha achievers in each class at the end of each term.

Achievement Badges

Each term the staff acknowledges the hard work of students by putting the top 10 students in a draw to win a prize. An achievement badge for the top three Gotcha achievers in each class is awarded at the end of each term.

Student Responsibilities

Students are expected at all times to do their best and are responsible for achieving their maximum learning potential. Students are responsible for learning and obeying the school policies, procedures and rules.

In the classroom, they are required to:

Do what the teacher asks immediately and quietlySpeak pleasantly to the teacher and other studentsRemain on task at all timesAlways put up their hand when they want to ask something or answer a question and wait for the teacher’s permission to speakTreat their own and other people’s property with respect

Underpinning Philosophy

Biblical FoundationsGod restores and redeems. He restores us in relationship with Himself. He will restore the whole of creation. People who follow Him restore relationships with each other. God is just. He is just and compassionate in His dealings with us. He is concerned that we treat others justly and that we do not oppress. God is interested in the heart. Good change is heart change. Good behaviour should come out of a good heart, changed behaviour should come out of a changed heart. The heart must be the focus of our attention, it is the focus of God’s. God is relational. He invites us into relationship with Himself. We don’t do things “to” people, we work” with” them. We respect others because they are fellow image bearers and this guides us in how we relate to them. Ultimately our relationships with each other reflect our relationship with God.

A restorative school is clear in its expectations of students. When students don’t meet those expectations there is an appropriate intervention to restore a student to the correct way of doing things. Incidents are learning situations where students gain understanding of the impact of their actions and what they need to do to put things right. It also involves teaching students what is the correct way to behave. A restorative system sweats the small incidents so that high end incidents are less likely to occur.

We Want:

Issues to end up strengthening relationships (student/God, student/student, student/teacher, student/community), not weakening themWrongdoing to be owned by the wrongdoer and accountability towards the victimsIncreasing behaviour awareness and awareness of one person’s impact on othersAwareness of the need to put things rightRestorative actionPersonal growth and heart changeA climate of nurture and careRetaining and involving the original relationships in the solution/consequencesThe realisation that actions have consequences for both perpetrators and victimsTo set high expectations for learning and behavingCollective consistency and buy in by all staff and progressively by students and families

“Sweating the Small Stuff” in the classroom: The Strike System

The following is made clear to students regarding expectations of behaviour in the classroom and consequences when these expectations are not met:

Co-operation

You are expected to be co-operative at all times. This means doing all you can to:positively participate in the learning processenable other learners to learn and the teacher to teach unhinderedtreat people and property with respect and carebe helpful and pro-active

Responsibility

You are expected to become increasingly more responsible. You can demonstrate this by:keeping to time-frames and deadlinesensuring that you are not late to classensuring that you are ready with the right materials for the lessonpro-actively catch up on work that you have missednotices returned on time

Co-operation + and Responsibility + result in: Gotchas – collected for the term

Co-operation - and Responsibility – Result in:Weekly: Strike 1=Name on board, Strike 2=x next to name, Strike 3=circled cross next to name– resulting in lunch time detention (picking up rubbish/teacher choice).The 2nd time you get a detention (per term) you also have to fill out a restorative thinking form and have an interview with your teacher. If you get a 3rd detention, your parents will receive an email home to invite them to a parent-teacher discussion on your behaviour.

For more serious incidents: the student will be referred to the Dean or to the Head of School for a Restorative Conversation and an appropriate consequence. Depending on the nature of the incident, parents may be contacted immediately.

The Restorative Conversation

The aim is to explore the issue(s) together, establish what harm / loss of learning has been caused and who has been affected. The Dean/ Head of School and the students will then work together to establish what is needed to put things right.

Example:What has been happening/what is going wrong?What were you thinking when…What have you thought about since?Who is this affecting? How is it affecting them?How can we fix it or put it right?What support do you need to stop this happening again?

The student will be involved in deciding on a possible consequence and will be asked for some suggestions. The consequence could be:Apologise, could be in written form, could be to read to the class.Commitment to improve on behaviour.Agree to some form of catch up or clean up.